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Valentine’s Day: A Romance Books Discussion

Happy Valentine’s Day! In my country, this is celebrated on June 12th, but since my boyfriend is European, we also celebrate it on February 14th. Do you have a Valentine’s Day tradition? I have to say I don’t have any… we both kind of keep it low key and maybe give each other chocolate or go out to have dinner… but nothing too much.

Anyway, if you have been reading my blog for a while, you probably know I’m not a big romance reader. I’ve never read a Nora Roberts, a Danielle Steel or a Nicholas Sparks book. I don’t mind reading romance in books, but I don’t particularly seek them out. Normally, my favorite romances are also from another genre, like fantasy. This comes probably from my own prejudices regarding the romance genre, for which I am not proud of (see what I did there?? No?? See the gif below then).

My problems with a lot of romances include:

Thinking that romance novels don’t really have a plot (UNTRUE, I KNOW)

A lot of the men in straight romances are “alpha males” which makes me frown instead of swoon.

The chemistry between the characters just doesn’t seem real. A lot of the angst in those books is just dramatic miscommunication.

Or the relationship is outright abusive but is portrayed as “sexy” (!!!!!!!).

As said, those are just prejudices, but they make me really hesitant before picking up a romance novel. I’m always afraid romance books will basically be like this:

Giving it some thought, I think my favorite ones are mixed-genre because fantasy always offers that possibility of incredible, out of this world, magical passion that would be too dramatic and unrealistic in real life. I also read some YA contemporary romances and not so much adult contemporary romances… which I think is due to the cute first-love theme, together with figuring out who you are, plus being really in love like that is something you do as a teen only, I think.

My favorite romances are below! The picture of the cover will lead you to the Goodreads page of the book.

The Night Circus, by Erin Morgenstern: a fantasy novel that has beautiful writing, gorgeous world-building and a passionate romance that will make you sigh dreamily a lot.

A Court of Mist and Fury, by Sarah J. Maas: another fantasy novel, with steamy, steamy romance! Rhys is so absolutely sexy and this novel is highly addictive!

Heartstone, by Elle Katharine White: another highly addictive novel, this is a fantasy retelling of Pride and Prejudice, but with dragons! How cool is that?

A Quiet Kind of Thunder, by Sara Barnard: So freaking adorable, I literally squeaked while reading this book, it might just be the cutest thing I’ve ever read. A lovely YA contemporary with great representation!

When Dimple Met Rishi, by Sandhya Menon: another sweet YA contemporary that literally makes you smile while reading and it’s so cute!

They Both Die At The End, by Adam Silvera: Oh my god, this ripped my heart apart! I loved Mateo and Rufus so much, and their beautiful story broke me entirely. It’s a great YA that reads like a contemporary, although technically it’s sci-fi.

Hidden Seams, by Alessandra Torre: This is my second Alessandra Torre book, and it so addictive, so sexy and, honestly, what I had hoped 50 Shades of Gray would have been. Also an erotica romance, a genre I hardly ever read!

What do you think of romance books? Do you like them? If yes, please leave below in the comments your favorites so I can branch out and read more romances!

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34 thoughts on “Valentine’s Day: A Romance Books Discussion”

I love them and thank you for that Alexandra Torre book because I’m totally looking that up. I used to have those same prejudices but I’m such a hopeless romantic that I can’t NOT read romance, lol. Most of the authors I like are mixed genre like romantic suspense or urban fantasy, etc. There’s a few contemporary authors that are pretty good though like Jill Shalvis or Susan Mallery I’d say. I adore Judith McNaught which is a little bit old fashioned romance but her writing is really good (she’s like in her 90’s now I think). I also like Sandra Brown. I’ve not read a Nora Roberts, Danielle Steel or Nicolas Sparks either so you are not alone there, lol. Amanda Hocking writes some good fantasy YA romance or Richelle Mead. Okay, my comment is long. I hope this helps! Haha

Vampire Academy is my favorite from her. She did a spin off series as well that I can’t remember the name of but it was decent just not as good as VA. There’s also a duology I really liked by Andrea Cremer called Rise and Rift. You might enjoy those books as well. 🙂

My feelings exactly! I just can’t stand those traditional romance books where the story is the romance itself. Like, ugh.
I’ve read a romance-y book last year, but it was more like rom-com. I loved the humour and the romance aspect wasn’t overemphasized, so it was fine, but i wouldn’t make it a habit to read those.

Same! I’m trying to venture a little more in the genre (there’s great recs in the comments!!), because I’m sure there’s great stuff out there. I also feel like reading romantic books from time to time, but I hardly know what to pick up…

Happy Valentine’s Day, Naty! Everyone once in awhile I like a good romance novel, but I normally read a lot of reviews before I pick one up. There are some really good ones out there but it is hard to know which ones to read because there are so many! I just read The Wedding Date by Jasmine Guillory and it was really great. Biracial couple with respectful sexy scenes!

Have yet to read A Quiet Kind of Thunder but HELL YES to ACOMAF. Obviously.
I do like reading romance once in a while; honestly, it’s with periods? Whenever I’m in the mood, I get in the mood for.. a couple of weeks and devour one after another, haha. I have to admit that I absolutely LOATHE romance covers with actual people on them. Not to mention all the six- and eight-packs. They do not entice me at all to be honest.

When it comes to contemporary romance.. I absolutely loved Autoboyography and 180 Seconds. Maybe those are two you’d like as well. 🙂

Even then they’d get on my nerves, to be honest. There are simply too many of those and.. They just make me feel as if “men are objects” or something. I don’t know. They don’t tempt me to read a book AT ALL.

“To catch people’s attention when they’re browsing books.” Yeah, sure. I guess it works. But.. some people would rather go “soooo ignoring these; where are the normal covers?”

HAHAHA. That is exactly what I head. I was expecting a cute, fluffy read and then.. THAT happened. My boyfriend seriously did not know what to do with me. I think I was crying for at least fifteen minutes. :’)

Great post! I totally agree that romance themes can be problematic at times; though, when done right, I love a little bit of a romantic subplot in my fantasy and historical fiction books! And yes, I really hate the “alpha male” trope too!!! It is so annoying!

I used to have the exact same perspective on romance books! And to be completely honest, I still hate reading about the tropes you talked about. I just kinda grew out of those prejudices? And yay, I totally love ACOMAF & They Both Die At The End as well! And I have many of the other books on my TBR, haha! Great post!

Happy Valentine’s Day! My fiance and I don’t really celebrate, but we do plan going to lunch over the weekend.
I’ve just branched out into the romance genre recently and have been really enjoying it! I thought a lot of the same things as you, but it’s really not the case! My favorite romance if First Came Forever by Annie Woods! This book introduced me to the genre and made me love it! I also recently read When Dimple Met Rishi and I absolutely loved the romance in that one.

YES YES YES!!!! i love romance. i am total trash for it. 😀 great romance books in my opinion are the books by “susan elizabeth philipps”. i love her chicago star series but also her stand alones are great. i would recommend reading “kiss an angel”. that was the book that had me hooked ❤

I have to say I am a sucker for a good romance ❤❤ It has to have a plot, though. And I enjoy the romances where the characters are determined not to be together because everything ends up so snarky and entertaining 🙂 Nora Roberts is one of my favorites because her stories are just so sweet and swoon-worthy. She also has many kick-butt female characters and the males aren’t “alpha males”.

Welcome to my blog! I am Naty, a Brazilian Engineer and book blogger writing from Germany. I read various genres and enjoy coffee, chatting about books and attempting to purge my ever-growing to-read pile.